Jackson Carlaw

David Jackson Carlaw (born 12 April 1959) is a Scottish politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2019 to 2020.

Carlaw joined the East Renfrewshire Conservatives in 1978.

He was the Conservative candidate in the 1982 Queen's Park by-election, and in the 1983 general election in Glasgow Pollok.

He was Chairman of the Scottish Young Conservatives from 1984 to 1986, Chairman of Eastwood Conservatives from 1988 to 1992, and was Deputy Chairman of the Scottish Conservatives from 1992 to 1998.

In the run-up to the 1997 Scottish devolution referendum Carlaw campaigned against the formation of a devolved Scottish Parliament alongside the Scottish Conservatives and the Think Twice campaign, advocating a No vote for both the question of the parliament's formation and whether the parliament should be granted tax-varying powers.

He worked for 25 years as a car salesman and was joint head of FirstFord car dealership in the west of Scotland until it was placed into receivership in November 2002.

He was also a director of Wylies automotive services until it went into administration in February 2003.

Carlaw was unsuccessful as a candidate for Eastwood in the 2003, 2007, and 2011 Scottish Parliament elections.

He was reappointed Deputy Chairman of the Scottish Conservatives in 2005.

He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) since 2007, first as an additional member for the West Scotland region and later for the Eastwood constituency since 2016.

Raised in Newton Mearns, Carlaw worked as a car salesman after education at The Glasgow Academy.

Elected to the Scottish Parliament on the West of Scotland regional list in 2007 and 2011, he was elected as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party in the 2011 deputy leadership election.

He was subsequently made Scottish Conservative Spokesperson for Health and Sport.

He was, however, elected on the party list under Scotland's additional member system in 2007 and 2011, representing the West of Scotland region.

He previously served as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from 2011 to 2019.

In 2011, Carlaw stood as a candidate in the leadership election brought on by Annabel Goldie's resignation.

During the campaign, he was hospitalised with appendicitis.

Carlaw finished third behind Ruth Davidson and Murdo Fraser.

He was appointed as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party and Scottish Conservative Spokesperson for Health and Sport by Davidson following her victory.

He was elected to the constituency of Eastwood in 2016, which had contested previously in 2003, 2007, and 2011, and following the election was made Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Europe and External Affairs and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Tourism.

Carlaw became MSP for Eastwood in 2016, after defeating the incumbent Ken Macintosh.

He supported remain during the 2016 EU referendum.

In September 2016, he was elected Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Cross Party Group on Building Bridges with Israel, the establishment of which he pledged to help in his 2016 election campaign.

Carlaw opposed the SNP's changes to council tax in November 2016, believing the proposed changes would effectively put over 50% of property in East Renfrewshire in the top two council tax bands.

Commenting against the decision, he maintained "the rise would unfairly hit working families and the elderly" and "will hit Eastwood residents hard".

He was re-appointed as of 28 June 2017 as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Europe and External Affairs and Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Tourism.

In February 2017, Carlaw was appointed Deputy Convener of the Cross Party Group on End-of-life Choices.

Following an attempt in March 2017 by the SNP to hold a second Scottish independence referendum, Carlaw spoke against the attempt, describing it as "pointless" and unwanted". He pledged the Scottish Conservatives would not allow for a further referendum until the Scottish public showed clear support.

Carlaw served as acting Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party from September 2018 to May 2019 during Ruth Davidson's maternity leave and from August 2019 to February 2020 following Davidson's resignation as leader.

He sat on the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament until mid-2018.

Carlaw served as acting leader of the Scottish Conservatives while leader Ruth Davidson was on maternity leave from September 2018 until May 2019.

Following her resignation in August 2019, he was appointed to serve a second term.

In his role as acting leader, he supported Brexit and u-turned on criticisms of Prime Minister and Conservative leader Boris Johnson.

He was the incumbent when Johnson called the 2019 general election, in which the party lost seven of their 13 seats from 2017.

He was elected Scottish Conservative leader in the February 2020 leadership election, winning more than three-quarters of votes from party members.

He resigned the leadership in July 2020, stating he was not the person best placed to lead the party into the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

Carlaw was raised in Newton Mearns and privately educated at The Glasgow Academy.

On 6 January 2020, Carlaw confirmed his candidacy for the February 2020 Scottish Conservative Party leadership election and launched his campaign in Edinburgh on 15 January.

He received support from Ruth Davidson, Murdo Fraser, Adam Tomkins, Liz Smith, Annie Wells and Jamie Greene.

This gave Carlaw the position of favourite over his opponent Michelle Ballantyne.